JACK HART: Diman's first A.D. dies at 82

Jack Hart, former teacher, coach and director of athletics at Diman Regional HS, died on Tuesday.

Jack Hart, Diman Regional Vocational Technical High School's first director of athletics, died on Tuesday. He was 82.

A graduate of Coyle High School and Manhattan College, Hart also taught physical education and coached varsity baseball and basketball at Diman. He was appointed to the teaching and coaching positions in 1959 and started as director of athletics in 1969.

Hart's children maintained the family tradition of sports. His third of four sons, Carlin, was a star baseball player at Durfee High School and for Spindle City American Legion, and the lefthanded-hitting slugger played Division 1 ball for George Mason University. His youngest son, Paul, is well known as the high-scoring center for Durfee's undefeated 1984 state championship basketball team.

Carlin Hart followed his father into the field of public education and is assistant principal at Oak Bluffs School on Martha's Vineyard.

Jack Hart left Diman in 1970 to take a job as probation officer in the Fall River-New Bedford Juvenile District. He retired as the Juvenile Probation Officer at Fall River District Court in 1993.

Carlin Lynch of Westport, the retired director of athletics and football coach at Dartmouth High School, was three years behind the soft-spoken Hart at Coyle High School and established a lifelong friendship.

"When I got to Coyle, he was kind of a hero to me because he played (football) so hard," Lynch said.

The respect and admiration only grew over the ensuing six decades. The respect was mutual as Jack Hart named his son Carlin after Lynch.

"He was a gentleman, period," Lynch said. "He had great integrity about all things. Jack was always in control of himself. He always had a good demeanor. Just a fine human being."

At Manhattan College, Hart's roommate was Junius Kellogg, the team's 6-foot-8 center and one of the whistle blowers in the infamous New York City college basketball point shaving scandal of the early 1950s.
"My mother said Jack and Kellogg spoke often about it," said Steven Hart, Jack eldest son. "My uncle Joe Hart told me (that) one day after the scandal broke, Kellogg invited Jack to go out for some hamburgers. Jack refused, fearing a mob hit would include him as collateral damage."
Email Greg Sullivan at gsullivan@heraldnews.com. Follow him @GregSullivanHN.